we'll all fall together
by bourgeois-moustache
Summary: After Spike's death, she lost everything. Now she has to find it again.
1. pieces

Faye didn't know why it ended this way. In the fairy tales, the gallant prince always defeated the bad guy and had enough strength to pull himself through his grueling injuries to live with the princess of his dreams. But, she reasoned, this was not a fairy tale. Spike wasn't a prince nor she his princess. She supposed he wanted it to be like this, in the end, and from what she understood from his past, maybe he thought it was the only way to end the suffering that his previous acts had earned him. But, she thought, it was unfair still. The minute that she realized that the Bebop and its crew were the only place that she could call home, it was all ripped without a second thought from her hands.

The ship was silent, and although Faye experienced melancholy lulls before, this was on a whole different magnitude. Nothing breathed, nothing stirred, and there was no mellow humming of the ship's engines or the _tlick-tlacking_ of Ed on her keyboard. Jet shut himself up in his room the minute they received a call from the local police saying that the bounty hunter Spike Spiegel was dead. Faye was left to deal with the funeral affairs, which she thought was unfair and rude, but there was no response when she beat at Jet's door and asked him to help her, so she conducted everything herself.

She packed away all of his things, transferred his money to their accounts and after Jet refused to take Spike's old ship, put the piece of junk on sale. Now, it was been a week since Spike's funeral, and the silence was becoming unbearable. She knew that she needed to do something, it was unlike her to just sit around moping and collecting dust, but there was nothing else to do. She did not want to collect bounties or go betting on dogs or horses, she wanted to do nothing more than sit and think. She sat up and walked to the window that looked out to the Mars skyline and the deck covered in Ed's graffiti that the rain only partially melted off.

_Edward._

What was that kid doing now? All she took was Ein and that computer. She maybe was a genius hacker, but from what Jet said, that girl had not even a speck of common sense. Earth was a wasteland. There was no way that she would be able to find her father. The meteors hit so quickly and changed the terrain so fast, there would be no way to catch up to the man on foot. She would starve, Faye realized. She would have to beg on the streets just to get only scraps of food. Maybe her hacking powers would be discovered by someone who wanted to abuse them and she would be dragged into a future that just now killed Spike. There was no way she could allow that to happen. If she did not run off that day, if she maybe stayed a little longer on the Bebop, she could have persuaded Ed not to run away. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

A door swished open softly behind her, and she heard the tapping of Jet's metal boots on steel grates. "It's been almost a week, and now you come out? I had to deal with everything myself, you know," she said bitterly. She did not turn to face him, instead she looked upon the graffiti and regret began to fill her heart.

"Sorry," he said, gruffly. "I know it's been hard, but I have something to ask you." She turned, finally, and was startled to see the man who she thought could never wear down, never be broken, look so tired and dazed within his own ship.

"Well? What is it that the big 'ol police officer wants from me?" she asked as he grimaced slightly, and drew out a cigarette. He lit it and after a moment, he spoke.

"I'm chasing down the last members of the Red Dragon Syndicate. I was wondering if you would like to help." Faye's mouth dropped open involuntarily and she gaped at him with a look of pure confusion on her face. He ignored her dumbfounded look and continued to speak. "After the shootout, there were still about seventeen high members who escaped and are continuing to carry out their dirty work. I'm going to hunt them down and make sure that the Red Dragons are destroyed completely."

"A-are you stupid?" she spluttered, and put a palm to her forehead. Men were all the same. When the lose something that was out of their control, they had to challenge the earth and heavens just to get revenge for what they had lost. "Don't you remember what happens when you get involved with them? You'll be killed."

He nodded, and spit the cigarette out and crushed it with his foot. "I already know what will happen. All I am asking is if you want to join me."

"I'm not willing to die senselessly… Especially after what just happened," she growled. Although she, like the rest of the crew, learned to put up with the antics of everyone else, there was a limit to how much stupidity she tolerated on board. Even Spike, who would usually agree with the most haphazard plans, would turn down this one without a second thought. "Jet… Can't we just go back to bounty hunting? Even if you can't accept what's happened, we need to move on. I don't like this… Spike wouldn't-"

"Spike's dead," Jet said, and his prosthetic hand clenched around air. "And this is my ship. If you don't like it, you can leave. That's the way it's always been around here."

He turned to leave and she felt anger flare up in her chest. He took this all from me. Just when I found it. Now I'm gonna bring it all back. "Wait."

"Hm?"

"I'm leaving, too. I'm going to Earth to find Ed. Then, we're gonna go to Mars and live a normal life."

"What? You know Ed's never been tied up in one place for so long! Forcing her to live in a cramped apartment will kill her. You know that, don't you?" He sighed, and then, for practically the first time since she met him, he put his hand on her shoulder. It was awkward and short, the prosthetic cold against her skin and he quickly removed the hand and placed it at her side. He looked at her, with solemn eyes.

"It's better if you just leave this alone," Jet said, looking her down, just the way he did with Spike when convincing him not do one of his harebrained schemes.

She stared at him right back. "I'm not letting Ed grow up without knowing a family."

Jet's gaze slipped and he began to chuckle quietly. "What happened to the Faye Valentine I used to know? The one who played for herself and got off the boat before it started to sink?"

"I guess she just found some people she wanted to sink with."


	2. desert van

So ya i have another chapter

thanks for reading it.

* * *

_Ring around the rosy. Pocket full of posy…_

Heat emanated off of everything on Earth. From the dead patches of grass, to the cracked asphalt beneath her feet, everything was sticky and hot and she _hated_ it. It was gross, and one of the main reasons she spent her life before underground. Yet. And yet. This was the only way to find Papa. So she would walk in the heat, following the patterns of dying stars as they streaked across the heavens and exploded upon the earth. If she just kept walking, then maybe she could find her home.

"Gaah, Ein-pup, I'm so tired… Aren't you?" Ein yipped, and Ed paused as well. She could feel the tremors beneath her feet. Something was coming.

"Ein! Get off the road!" she skittered in to action, picked up her puppy and leapt off the asphalt and on to the dust, just missing the careening van, which skidded and stopped a few feet away.

She hit the ground with a force that knocked the breath out of her and Ein squawked indignantly and wiggled out of her grasp. The truck that had come _this_ close to killing them sat silently in a shuddering, fuming mass. Ed heard no noise coming from the truck. Maybe everyone inside was already dead.

She jumped up into a handstand and then on to her feet and galloped over to the steaming wreck. Dead or not, the truck would probably have a computer so that maybe she could hook her Tomato up and check for the nearest asteroid sightings.

As she approached the car, she could hear voices through the smoke. Maybe the people inside were sick. Or stupid. Someone was coughing hard and another was singing in a low, rather off pitch voice.

"_You may say I'm a dreamer… But I'm not the only oneee…_

_I hope someday you'll join us… And the world will be as oneee…"_

The song ended in a fit of cackling which then turned in to hacking. Yep, she was sure that these people were sick, infected with a terrible virus known to her as the Stupid. Sometimes the members of the Bebop used to contract it every once in a while. Of course, she was too busy playing on her Tomato to give them the cure, and anyways, it was more fun having them figure problems out by themselves.

"Helooo? HellllOOOO? Come out, come out wherever you are!" she sang as she climbed up the truck. On the top of the truck, there was a small sun hatch that had been torn off and instead replaced with a blanket that read in large, deep black letters '**_DON'T TREAD ON ME!_**' with a picture of a curled-up rattle snake sitting upon the words. The picture was peculiar, but not strange enough to warrant more than a few seconds more of inspection before she tore it off and stared down into the darkness.

The truck had a musty, smoky smell that she just couldn't place. It was like that of cigarettes, but not exactly, and it made her nose curl when she smelled it. The room inside the truck was filled with trash. Wrappers of fast food and bottles that once held alcohol were strewn carelessly about and clothes were heaped up in piles in every available space. The most peculiar of all, though, were the people who sat on the clothes piles. There were three people in all, two men and a woman, all decked out like they just came from an insane party. The woman wore sunglasses, although she didn't really need them, and her blonde hair was done up in dreads, which were all tied back into a ponytail. One man was as large and full as a building, sporting a small moustache and an exaggerated afro. The last person seemed the most normal, but that was only until she saw his face. He had piercings everywhere and a tattoo that stretched from his torso to his neck.

"Woah," she breathed. "This place… is coooo-ool! Ein-pup, it's like a secret, secret cave!" there was no response from her beloved puppy, so she climbed down into the hovel and landed on a pile of clothes.

The people inside did not look surprised at her trespassing, they only warily gazed at her for a few seconds before the afro-man spoke. "Whaddya want kid? We don' need t' buy nothin'… We's fine as we is…" The man trailed off, and then the dread-haired woman began to speak.

"Aw, come on, Lucky…" the woman smiled and then took a long drag out of her cigarette. She patted a place next to her and gestured for Ed to sit down. She did. Her feet were aching and blistery. The woman smelled of smoke and too much perfume, yet it was a comforting smell. There were only a few women in the world that wore that much perfume and Faye was one of them. Although the stench made her want to vomit, it also filled her with another feeling that wasn't an extreme urge to empty her already barren belly.

It was longing. Longing for Faye. Longing for Spike and Jet. She missed the Bebop and its ever frantic crew. She missed the adventure and the freedom and sitting in the back seat of the Swordfish while Spike finished off a tricky hunt. She wanted to see space again, not be trapped on this dustball where she could have no freedom. She wanted the stars.

"The kid only wants to join us in our love. What do you say, kid? Wanna come and find world peace with us?" the woman smiled at her, a stain from lipstick on her yellowed teeth.

"Nah, not really," Ed refused, and the woman looked disheartened. "Hey—Hey, lady, don't be sad, no no. Ed just already has to do something. Ed's on a travel herself." She stood up proudly and did a handstand to show them that she was talking business. However, the ground was really slippery and kind of mushy, so she fell back on to the pile of clothes, dazedly. "How about you guys?" she asked. "Why're you out here?"

"We're members of a secret organization, yeah. That's what," said the man with the tattoo. "We're- uh- traveling the globe, lookin' for adventure and all that. Also, down in those damn cities we're not allowed to have fun, y'know? The people there are such _stiffs_!"

"Yeah," the woman said, wistfully.

"Sure," the afro man agreed. "Wha' your name, kid? You's a boy or a girl?"

"Ed's uh…" Faye told her once that giving her name to strangers was a way to get herself in serious trouble, but as she looked at the people sitting lamely in their own trash, she didn't feel much of a threat. "Ed," she announced grandly, "Ed shall introduce herself. Fully, Ed is known as Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, but to you commoners, Ed will allow you to address Ed as Ed."

"Wow," the tattooed man said.

"Sweet," the woman breathed after a long drag from her cigarette.

"Cool," the afro man said sullenly.

Ed bowed quickly and then sat back on the couch, next to the woman. There was silence for a few moments while she inspected the truck for a computer jack. "Ed's looking for a jack for her computer… Do you have one, perchance, perchance?" The woman made no answer, so Ed poked her until she did.

"Wha-? No, no I guess not," the woman said breathlessly, and Ed frowned. "But there's a place a few miles from here that probably does. How's 'bout we drive you there after we eat?"

"Eat?" Ed's eyes widened. She hadn't eaten since yesterday, when she had found that strange fruit by the side of the road. "Yippee! Yippee! Scrumptious, deliciously yummy food!"

The food that the trio had was neither yummy nor scrumptious, but Ed had eaten worse on the Bebop, so she wasn't picky. The meal was light, beans served from a can and a piece of meat from an unknown animal that was too salty to eat. They had let Ein eat with them, as well, and beside her, her puppy was gnawing happily on a piece of the mystery meat.

They made a large bonfire, and arranged the folding chairs a perfect distance away so as not to get seared by the crackling flames, but still receive warmth. The man with the tattoos brought out a beaten guitar and quietly started to play tunes from long ago, ancient ballads that were uplifting and saddening at the same time.

The stars speckled across the night sky. It was perfect out, to say the least. Somewhere out there, there was Mars and Ganymede, Venus and Titan. So many places that she had seen and lived on were not even visible from where she was now. There were _people_ out there, and yet, from Earth it seemed like she was all alone.

"So, where's you from, kid? T'ain't usual to see a kid out on their own like this, no sir," said the afro man, glumly stirring his beans. "Where's your parents? Don' you have any?"

"Hm," said Ed. She slid off her chair and laid down closer to the fire. "Parents? Not 'Parents'… But 'Parent'. I have a parent. He's not here now, but I'm gonna find him! That's why I'm here!"

"Oh, okay," said the tattooed man. He paused in the middle of his chord and ran his hands through his thin, blonde hair. "When I was your age, that was what I was doin' too, y'know? I was always looking for my momma everywhere she went, 'cause she left me when I was young… But now that I'm older, I know that was crazy, dude. My mom was never gonna come with me, just 'cause I looked for her. If people leave you for real, they ain't ever coming back. You should remember that, kid."

Ed did not reply. She only turned on to her side and looked over the great expanse of dust and wasteland that stretched out before her. The tattooed man's words struck fear deep into her heart. _What if he doesn't want her? What if Papa doesn't want Ed? What will Ed do then?_

She would find him. Even if he didn't want her, she would find him. She had no other choice.

_Ashes, ashes. We all fall down._


End file.
